SENSIBILITY

sensitivity, sensitiveness, sensibility

(noun) (physiology) responsiveness to external stimuli; the faculty of sensation; “sensitivity to pain”

sensibility, esthesia, aesthesia

(noun) mental responsiveness and awareness

sensibility

(noun) refined sensitivity to pleasurable or painful impressions; “cruelty offended his sensibility”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

sensibility (countable and uncountable, plural sensibilities)

The ability to sense, feel or perceive; responsiveness to sensory stimuli; sensitivity. [from 15th c.]

Emotional or artistic awareness; keen sensitivity to matters of feeling or creative expression. [from 17th c.]

(now, rare, archaic) Excessive emotional awareness; the fact or quality of being overemotional. [from 18th c.]

(in the plural) An acute awareness or feeling. [from 18th c.]

(obsolete) The capacity to be perceived by the senses. [15th–17th c.]

Source: Wiktionary


Sen`si*bil"i*ty, n.; pl. Sensibilities. Etym: [Cf. F. sensibilité, LL. sensibilitas.]

1. (Physiol.)

Definition: The quality or state of being sensible, or capable of sensation; capacity to feel or perceive.

2. The capacity of emotion or feeling, as distinguished from the intellect and the will; peculiar susceptibility of impression, pleasurable or painful; delicacy of feeling; quick emotion or sympathy; as, sensibility to pleasure or pain; sensibility to shame or praise; exquisite sensibility; -- often used in the plural. "Sensibilities so fine!" Cowper. The true lawgiver ought to have a heart full of sensibility. Burke. His sensibilities seem rather to have been those of patriotism than of wounded pride. Marshall.

3. Experience of sensation; actual feeling. This adds greatly to my sensibility. Burke.

4. That quality of an instrument which makes it indicate very slight changes of condition; delicacy; as, the sensibility of a balance, or of a thermometer.

Syn.

– Taste; susceptibility; feeling. See Taste.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

7 June 2025

PARSEC

(noun) a unit of astronomical length based on the distance from Earth at which stellar parallax is 1 second of arc; equivalent to 3.262 light years


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Coffee Trivia

Plain brewed coffee contains almost no calories, while coffee with dairy products, sugar, and other flavorings is much higher in calories. An espresso has 20 calories. A nonfat latte has 72, while a flavored one has 134.

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